BJP's Annamalai, Union Minister Puri hold roadshow in Coimbatore

Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 8 (ANI): The Tamil Nadu BJP chief and BJP candidate from Coimbatore, K Annamalai, and Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri held a roadshow in Coimbatore on Monday.
Both the leaders waved to the scores of BJP supporters from an open vehicle gathered on either side of the road as the vehicle moved slowly.
Earlier, upon arriving in Coimbatore for the roadshow, Puri attacked the previous Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, calling it corrupt, and claimed that the NDA government of the past 10 years was corruption-free and the country benefited a great deal from it.
"Previous government was a dictionary of corruption. This is one government in the last ten years that has no corruption charge against it. So this is a great situation. Today the whole country is hoping to benefit from that," Puri told ANI.
He predicted that the BJP will at least get 20% more seats in the Lok Sabha than it got in the 2019 general election.
"I had predicted more than 300 seats (for BJP) in the 2019 elections. Today I am saying at least 20% more than 2019. That means 363-370 seats," he said.
Puri said that in West Bengal and in the whole of South India, where BJP is electoral weaker compared to the North and the West of the country, there is groundswell of support for the BJP.
"Not only in Tamil Nadu, all the southern states and West Bengal you see a clear groundswell of support for the BJP which was never there earlier. Today, for the first time we are seeing a lot of enthusiasm for the Prime Minister, the BJP...Within the next five years of the Modi government, we will be among the top three economies of the world. The whole of the country is feeling that development surge," he said.
Meanwhile, Annamalai on Monday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a roadshow in Chennai tomorrow.
In his two-day visit to the state for election campaigning ahead of the Lok Sabha election, PM Modi will also attend public gatherings in Vellore and Mettupalayam on Wednesday in support of various NDA candidates.
"Tomorrow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is coming to Chennai to hold a roadshow. The day after tomorrow, the PM will visit Vellore to address a public meeting in support of NDA candidates from Vellore, AC Shanmugam and Sowmiya Anbumani from Dharmapuri. Later, the PM will go to Mettupalayam to hold a rally in favour of Nilgiri, Coimbatore and Pollachi parliamentary constituency candidates," Annamalai told reporters in Coimbatore.
BJP has intensified its campaign in Tamil Nadu with its top leaders attending public rallies in the state.
On Sunday, BJP national president JP Nadda held a roadshow in Tamil Nadu's Tiruchirappali, which the police earlier denied permission but allowed it later after a court's direction.
Addressing a public meeting at Madurai on Sunday, JP Nadda said that half of the leaders of the INDI alliance are on bail and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is in jail.
"The Congress, the DMK, both are two sides of the same coin. Both are families and corrupt parties. When I talk about DMK, it is a dynastic party. If I talk about Congress, coal scam, 2G scam, all types of scams are there. The INDI alliance is nothing but an alliance of family parties and corrupt parties. Modi ji wants to remove the corruption but the INDI alliance people want to save them. Half of their leaders are on bail and Arvind kejriwal is in jail," he said.
Voting for all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu will be held in the first phase of the general elections on April 19.
In the 2019 general elections, the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance, comprising the Congress, VCK, MDMK, CPI, CPI(M), IUML, MMK, KMDK, TVK, AIFB, registered a landslide victory, winning 38 of the 39 seats in the state.
The elections to 543 Lok Sabha seats in the country will be held in seven phases, starting April 19. (ANI)